Ten executives who should have kept their mouths shut

We have all said things we regret: embarrassing comments we would rather forget. Most of the time the consequences are not too severe. But not for these guys and gals.

Their corporate blunders have spectacularly backfired. More than one has lost their job because of their thoughtless gaffes or watched as their company's share price has plunged because of an ill-chosen word.

10 Freddie Shepherd (1998)

Newcastle United

"Newcastle girls are all dogs. England is full of them. The girls are ugly and they're dogs."

So said Freddie Shepherd, the chairman of Newcastle United Football Club, after a spectacular expose by the News of the World’s infamous "fake" sheikh" in a Spanish brothel.

Mr Shepherd also mocked fans for buying shirts that cost less than a fiver to make overseas and said that United's striker Alan Shearer was as boring as Mary Poppins.

He was gone in less than a fortnight, but not for long. He reappeared on the Newcastle board 10 months later. Proof, if ever you need one, that you don't need charm to make it at the top.

9 Mark Sismey-Durrant (2008)

Icesave

On October 4 Mr Sismey-Durrant, chief executive of the failed Icelandic bank, went on BBC radio to tell his 300,000 UK customers that "They shouldn't be nervous about the state of the bank. We have a strong capital base and 63 per cent of our balance sheet is funded by deposits."

Asked if customers could be sure their money was safe and they could get it out he answered: "Yes, they can be."

Three days later, Icesave's parent Landsbanki went into receivership and customers were left bewildered and angry as their deposits were frozen.

8 Tony Hayward (2007)

BP

In 2007, Tony Hayward took over at BP from Lord Browne, the oil giant's long-standing chief executive who resigned following allegations about his private life in the Mail on Sunday.

Hayward was reportedly keen to shake-up the organisation from the outset and described the oil giant’s performance as "dreadful". His comment succeeded in shaking things down, rather than up. BP's shares plunged, wiping £3.5 billion off their value.

7 Gerald Corbett (2002)

Woolworths

Gerald Corbett caused a storm when he delivered a less-than-rosy verdict on Woolworths, soon after taking over as the retail chain's boss.

Asked for an assessment of the company after a disappointing trading statement Mr Corbett said: "Some city centre stores are vast open deserts with nobody there."

The recent performance of the high-street chain suggests things haven't improved. Sales have been falling, as have profits.  A sorry picture reflected in its shares, which have plunged 85 per cent over the past three years and are now worth just pennies each.

6 David Shepherd (2001)

Topman

Today, Topman is packed full of on-trend T-shirts and one-off designer lines, primped and pawed at by achingly cool art students. But back in the early noughties, when high street menswear catered to simpler tastes (and a customer base that didn’t moisturise daily), Topman was cheaper and a younger version of unfashionable Burtons.

Even so, the comments of brand director David Shepherd seemed a little unwise. When a reporter from trade magazine Menswear asked him to describe his target customers, he said: "Hooligans or whatever", adding: "Very few of our customers have to wear suits to work. They'll be for his first interview or first court case."

For shoplifting, perhaps?

5 Matt Barrett (2003)

Barclaycard

Like any loving father, Matt Barrett warned his children of the perils of using a credit card in adulthood and set an excellent example by never borrowing on the costly cards himself. A wise man. Unfortunately, Mr Barrett was head of Barclaycard, one of Europe’s largest credit card companies.

Customers weren’t too pleased when he told a Commons' Treasury Select Committee: "I do not borrow on credit cards. I have four young children. I give them advice not to pile up debts on their credit cards."

At the time, Barclaycard was charging card holders an eye-watering APR of 17.9 per cent.

4 Jeffrey K Skilling (2001)

Enron

It is never a good idea for a chief executive to swear outside of the privacy of their own home. It's unseemly for a start, and it also suggests that they are buckling under extreme pressure.

At least that's the lesson that can be drawn from the undignified performance of Jeffrey K. Skilling, then the chief executive of Enron, who lashed out with an expletive (we'll spare you the details) at an analyst asking a difficult question. Six months later the company collapsed and Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison for fraud and conspiracy.

3 Alain Levy (2003)

EMI

In 2003, EMI boss Alain Levy described in an interview how they had cut the number of Finnish artists on their label. He said "We discovered we had 49 artists in Finland. I think that is a bit too many. I don't think there are 49 Finns that can sing.''

Three years later the Scandinavians got their revenge, as Finnish monster metal band Lordi took the top prize at the Eurovision song contest with a song titled Hard Rock Hallelujah. Unsurprisingly the band signed to rival Sony BMG.

2 Mark Owen-Lloyd (2008)

E.ON

Mark Owen-Lloyd, head of power trading at energy company E.ON, was pilloried after he recently said that the worst-case scenario for his company in the current difficult economic conditions was "more money for us".

When asked what would happen in a ‘worst case scenario’, with gas and oil prices staying at high levels, he said: "It’ll make more money for us".

Perhaps we shouldn't condemn him too harshly. At least he's man enough to admit the truth.

1 Gerald Ratner (1991)

Ratners

In the early 90s Ratners was one of Britain’s biggest jewellers. You won't find a Ratners on the high street anymore though, and all because of a notorious gaffe made by Gerald Ratner, the company's boss.

When asked to speak at a dinner held by the Institute of Directors, he made the decision to lighten up his speech with a few jokes at the expense of his business. He joked that his Ratners High Street chain 'sold a pair of earrings for under a pound, which is cheaper than a prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencer, but probably wouldn't last as long'. 

He didn't stop there adding: "We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, 'How can you sell this for such a low price?' I say, because it's total crap."

He lost his job and the firm quickly changed its name (to Signet in case you were wondering).

His faux pas has since been immortalised in the phrase "Doing a Ratner", which means making a massive error of judgment. Fame of a sort.

And some more worth repeating

Richard Fuld (2008)

Lehman Brothers

Lehman's boss Richard Fuld and his sidekick George Walker scoffed at an in-house proposal that the investment bank's executives forgo lucrative bonuses only weeks before the company became the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

In an e-mail to Mr Walker, the Lehman's chief executive said: "Don't worry. [Those complaining] are only people who think about their own pockets."

Mr Walker, President George W. Bush's cousin, wrote: "Sorry team ... I'm not sure what's in the water" that caused someone to make the recommendation.

The email exchange came back to haunt Mr Fuld when it was revealed at a congressional hearing after Lehman's collapse. Red faces all round.

Carly Fiorina (2008)

Ex Hewlett-Packard

Bit of a cheat this one, but topical all the same. Carly Fiorina the former chief executive of the technology giant Hewlett-Packard and key economic adviser to John McCain didn't do the US presidential hopeful any favours when she told a radio host that his deputy - the indomitable Sarah Palin - couldn't run a major company like Hewlett Packard.

Asked later in a television interview about her remark, she put her foot even further into the mire when she added: "Well, I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation."

That's a vote of confidence in the potential leader of the world's most powerful country.

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The 10 most ridiculous fines of all time

The 10 shares that went from hero to zero

The 10 most bungled robberies ever

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50 great things you can get free

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Comments

[Urban Bear]

The really scary thing is "The United States of America" IS a corporation as are most government agencies around the world, including the Queen, Treasury, MPs, police, courts and councils, in the UK, many for-profit, with shareholders!
Corporatism (Fascism) has been here for ages, yet it took Mussolini to point it out,m and "Dun & Bradstreet" to confirm it!
Have a look for yourself.

The whole Hewlett Packard scam was a complete and utter lie. And how ironic the terminal velocity of the computer resembled that of an Acer Veriton 5500G. By the way Hewlett Packard make great computers for us executives. The microchip that was inseted to the disc belonging to the secretary general was believed to be fake! Can you believe that? After all that fuss it turned out to be over and ample seldom issue that didnt affect anyones splender.
PS Does it play WoW. Can you send me that document of the confidential files regarding the plight of the Compaq industrie?

[hectorsinclair]

Carly Fiorina comments on McCain and Palin are ironic given the destruction of Hewlett Packards share price she presided over, before getting kicked out.

[BelenMarie]

WOULD YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHOT!

A TEQUILA SHOT! MAYBE, NOT EVEN

"POR PENDEJA ESTAS OTRA VEZ EN EL HOSPITAL!" BETWEEN OTHERSSSSS

[Harri]

Er...Signet now run Ernest Jones etc - one of the biggest jewellery chains (no pun intended) there is!

[Matilda]

Common misconception - Finland is not in Scandinavia, but in the Nordic countries group. Scandinavia is Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

[Brian Bower]

"Mr Barrett's advice on borrowing on credit cards was sensible and timely, if more people had listened we might not be in the position we are in now."

Yeah I don't do drugs myself, I just sell them to children...

[John F]

Carly Fiorina forgot the obvious, that being that SHE couldn't run a large corporation either - hence she was sacked shortly after the merger.

[KW]

Mr Barrett's advice on borrowing on credit cards was sensible and timely, if more people had listened we might not be in the position we are in now.

[C Byrne]

Isn't it about time that we left poor Gerald alone. It was an (often repeated) joke. The newspapers had nothing else to report so they brought him down. Don't forget that he built up the biggest jewellery business in the UK.

[Lyn]

Alan Greenspan should be the top of the list. He caused much of this and he still is bringing it down. Why do Americans still believe him?

[Paul]

Michael O'Leary hasn't even made the Top 10 yet. Well it's obviously not for the lack of trying.

[A.C.Batcheler]

The blame for the economic crisis lies primarily with us here and in America. It is due to our greed and short-termism; all those people who took out two or five year mortgages. A mortgage should be to buy a property and the repayments should be sufficient and for a long enough term to pay for it. Instead we have used our houses as gambling chips here and in America and the time has come to pay the croupier. The banks are only to blame in that they have answered the demands made on them by a debt intoxicated public.

[John Williamson]

Chuck Prince (Citibank): "We're still dancing..."

[Richard Wright]

All of this goes to support my businesses 3 key views that are: Firstly Timing is everything, Secondly Know your audience before you deliver your message and Finally, the audience/public will never be ready for the whole truth - its just too big for them.

[glenn schaefer]

The business news TV networks are a laugh riot. I've yet to see one CEO suggest his company wasn't anything but extremely well situated to ride out any storms - then the next week it's chapter eleven. But they feel they have to mislead us because of the above instances

[CatC]

And who could forget Allen Roses, then-worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), admitting that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them -

"The vast majority of drugs - more than 90 per cent - only work in 30 or 50 per cent of the people," Dr Roses said. "I wouldn't say that most drugs don't work. I would say that most drugs work in 30 to 50 per cent of people."

[Frank Upton]

The odd thing is that all these people were telling the truth.